Children Grow Up When You're Not Looking

When I was growing up, my mom had a sign in our kitchen that said, "There will be years for cleaning and cooking, for children grow up while you're not looking." 

As a child, I'm sure I didn't pay much attention to it.  I think the only reason I remember it is because it hung above the toaster and so I would read it while waiting on my bread to toast. 

Now, I understand every single word of it.  Children really do grow up when you're not looking!  I look at Tucker Bug sometimes and I am blown away at how big he is already!  Where did my baby go?  No, I mean really, where?  and when?  It just happens so fast.  Wes and I were laying in bed the other night talking before we went to sleep.  Somehow, our conversation turned to silly things that we did or that happened years and years ago (like the time our sophomore year in college that my computer crashed and I lost an entire 21 page business proposal for my business class at Transy, at 2:00 am!  And, yes, it was due the next day!).  After reliving a few good and maybe not-so-good times, I asked, "Can you believe we have an almost 2-year-old son and a daughter on the way?"  How is that possible?  Some days it seems like yesterday that I was in a panic because of that lost paper and as a result stayed up all day, skipped my first class, and re-wrote the entire thing from scratch (and actually produced a much better paper, I might add!).  Most days, I don't feel much older than that naive 19-year-old.  Other days, it seems like a life time ago and I feel much (MUCH) older lol!  Anyway, the point is, time flies.  Add a child in the mix, and it moves at the speed of light! 
 

Tucker is at an age, and maybe it's just his personality and not really his age, but he likes to be played with.  Now, don't get me wrong, he can definitely sit and play independently, but he enjoys being played with so much more!  I hear the words, "Mommy, up!" and "Come on, Mommy!" all. day. long.  Even when I am already playing with him.  He and I can be sitting on the floor, playing trucks and he will get an idea in his head of something else he wants to do and I hear, "Mommy, up!"  And keep in mind two things:  1) The attention span of a toddler isn't very long.  Which means we had probably only been sitting on the floor for 3 minutes.  And 2) Sitting on the floor to only get up again and repeat the whole process every 3 minutes isn't necessarily the easiest task for a 31 week pregnant woman!  

Knowing that "Mommy, up!" and "Come on, Mommy!" really mean, "Mommy, please play with me!" and "Mommy! I'm so excited!  Come see what I found/did!"  make it really hard to resist following his commands.  My son wants to play with me!  How can I say no to that?  And believe me, when there are dishes piling up in the sink and I've just started to unload the dishwasher, or I barely started eating my breakfast, or whatever other household chore I happen to be trying to accomplish at the minute, gets interrupted by those phrases, my instincts are to say, "Tucker, Mommy's busy right now.  You go play." but then I am reminded of the sign that resided in our kitchen for so many years. 

There really WILL be YEARS for cleaning and cooking, for children REALLY DO grow up when you're not looking.  So, I want to look as often and as long as I can :)

And as I just wrote those two lines above, tears welled up in my eyes.  Not only because my baby boy will be turning into a young man one day and it will seem all too soon, but also because in less than a few short months, Tucker's baby sister will be here and there will be times that I will HAVE to tell him that Mommy's busy, and that breaks my heart....

Until then, I'm enjoying playing trucks, hide 'n seek, chase, building towers of blocks that get knocked down by a boy and his garbage truck, shooting hoops, fixing toy airplanes with toy tools, pushing trains around a track, playing catch, finger painting, reading books, listening to Tucker read me books, eating toy food, wrestling......

And I'm sure to keep my eyes on that little booger that's doing all that growing while Mommy's not looking!

Tucker at 9 months :)